Multicultural Amman: Engaging Jordan’s Youth (Part 1)

إشراك جيل الشباب الأردني في التعلم عن ماضي عمّان وتعدد ثقافاتها (ممول من المعهد البريطاني

Ross Wilkinson, Learning and Engagement Manager, reflects on an ongoing collaborative learning project which stretches from Durham to Jordan:

Back in the heady pre-lockdown days of August 2018, I received an email from a colleague in Archaeology, Dr. Arwa Badran Arwa asked to meet as she was putting funding towards a project to help youth engagement in museums and needed the support of the Learning and Engagement Team. I had worked with Arwa previously on the Museum and Artefacts MA course, and at this point I assumed a simple engagement with local partner museums in the region or possibly wider, nationally…  

Continue reading “Multicultural Amman: Engaging Jordan’s Youth (Part 1)”

The Bill Bryson Library’s First Steps into UX

If students were brave enough make it past the terrifying dragons we had set up in the library during induction week, they may have experienced the library’s first foray into UX research.  UX stands for User Experience, and in a library context it basically means that users are put at the centre of all our decision-making, from the big to the small. UX research puts an emphasis on using creative and intuitive methods with participants, rather than standard surveys that can be uninspiring, boring, and often cannot get to the heart of how users feel, as well as what they think.

We wanted to find out what new students felt as soon as they walked into the library, and whether the expectations of returning and postgraduate students were being met, so induction week felt like the perfect time to conduct our research.

Continue reading “The Bill Bryson Library’s First Steps into UX”

An Audience with Bill Bryson

On Wednesday 29th January, we welcomed acclaimed author and former Chancellor Bill Bryson back to the Library that bears his name.  Bill hosted a Q and A in Small Island Coffee which, fittingly, was named after one of his books, Notes from a Small Island.  He has been quoted as saying,

“I couldn’t believe that not once in twenty years had anyone said to me: ‘You’ve never been to Durham? Good God, man, you must go at once! Please – take my car’.”

We were delighted to welcome Bill back to the town he so loves!

Continue reading “An Audience with Bill Bryson”

#Throwback Thursday: Open Durham

Inviting academics to speak about their research at the library

Working in an academic library is a great privilege; a big part of any library role is providing a service which ensures students and academics have access to the resources they need to study and produce their research.  The open access team at Durham get to see the final product of our researchers’ hard work when they send manuscripts that have been accepted to journals to be deposited into our repository. Open Access Week 2019 – ‘Open for Whom?’ was the perfect opportunity to share the incredible research that we help to support in the library with our colleagues.

Continue reading “#Throwback Thursday: Open Durham”

A new age for media coverage of women’s sport? An analysis of English media coverage of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Here at Durham University Library we’re always interested to see what research our academic colleagues are publishing and making available to all via our open access repository, Durham Research Online.

Kelly H: “Growing up in a North-East town in the 1990s, conveniently located between Newcastle and Sunderland, football was a prominent part of my childhood.  There were many arguments about which team was better – Newcastle or Sunderland (Newcastle, obviously!) But one thing was for certain – football was for the lads.  This view was perpetuated by the teachers, our parents and of course, the media.  There was one girl in my class who was an amazing footballer and the boys accepted her as an equal – until secondary school when she was no longer allowed to play with them due to health and safety.

Women playing football (Male linesman)
Image: Noelle Otto, CC 0, https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-athletes-playing-soccer-906073/

Continue reading “A new age for media coverage of women’s sport? An analysis of English media coverage of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.”

Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑